What’s happened to Georgia Power’s close-in-2002 Coal Plant Arkwright
that
Putnam County Manager Paul Van Houte used as a bad example?
According to
Georgia Power’s own online history:
In 2002, the company retired 11 generating units at three sites including
all of the units at Plant Atkinson and Plant Arkwright and two units at
Plant Mitchell.
Southern Company has online a
press release from 15 May 2002: Continue reading
Putnam County sent a delegation to
the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.
You’ve already seen
Rep. Rusty Kidd; next up was the Putnam County manager.
County Manager
Paul Van Haute
said
$175,000 in SPLOST money from
Putnam County
Unfortunately we had budgeted
$275,000,
so we’re about
$100,000 a year short
based on our estimates.
That is directly attributable to the loss of coal sales from Plant Branch.
Also on top of that we’re losing about $950,000 to $980,000 of property tax.
That is about one seventh of our property tax receipts.
This is a very big impact to the community.
About then he was interrupted by Chairman Chuck Eaton, who asked: Continue reading
Videos of the morning part of the 18 June 2013 Georgia Public Service Commission
Administrative Session,
which was mostly about two Georgia Power dockets
on closing coal plants
and future energy,
plus a
telecommunications rules docket.
First they had a lengthy
devotional on Joseph sold into slavery to the Egyptians (Georgia Power
probably didn’t like being referred to in that manner).
There was a sign posted outside the door:
do not enter; devotional in progress.
Chairman Eaton finally
started the meeting with Continue reading
First public witness about the GA Power 2013 IRP at the
the Georgia Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday 18 June 2013.
GA Rep. Rusty Kidd district 145, who argued for more solar power.
Rep. Kidd noted
coal Blant Branch closing
would have substantial economic effect on Putnam County.
He said one of his friends was selling his house on Lake Sinclair
because he knew Putnam County taxes would be going up.
Rep. Kidd urged the Commission to have Georgia Power use
the land of Plant Branch for solar energy.
He also noted that the more coal plants that closed,
the more natural gas would have a monopoly,
and then he expected the price of natural gas to go up.
So he concluded by urging GA PSC to have Georgia Power
put solar power on the Plant Branch property in the near future.
Here’s
the video: Continue reading
Commissioner McDonald wants twice as much solar power from Georgia Power,
while Commissioner Stan Wise asked questions leading to Georgia Power
maybe saying that would cost more, yesterday at the Georgia Public
Service Commission in Atlanta.
Doubling from 271 megawatts planned to more than 500 MW would be good;
at least that’s a start on
catching up to New Jersey’s already-installed 1,000 MW.
Jacksonville.com reported today,
Georgia Power tells regulators adding solar generation will cost consumers more:
PSC Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald wants Georgia Power to double solar generation, Continue reading
Here’s a trailer for the “documentary” pro-nuke film that comes out today,
Pandora’s Promise.
The film discounts solar and wind energy because its makers
don’t understand the exponential decrease in solar prices or
the night backup power ability of wind connected with a smart grid.
The vast majority of the American people already are demanding
those real renewables instead of nuclear or coal,
and the economics of wind and solar are also rapidly beating natural gas.
Atom Ecology’s promotional writeup 7 June 2013,
Pandora’s Promise – Anti-Nuclear Mob Burns Environment In Coal Fired Forges Of Industry For 30 Years begins,
A new documentary film that reveals how opposition to and voting
against nuclear power turned into massive increases in coal burning
power plants. The far worse outcome for the environment as coal has
filled energy demand is the story just coming to theatres.
The tiny germ of truth in that ten years ago is just plain wrong now
that coal is not the alternative because
solar has reached grid parity with nuclear, coal, and natural gas.
The movie plays up Stewart Brand’s conservationist credentials
and his conversion to pro-nuke.
Not in that movie, but
in this TED talk,
you can see
Stewart Brand lose a debate with Mark Z. Jacobson, who argued
we can power the whole world with sun, wind, and water.
Jacobson’s summary: Continue reading
Too ambitious, technology untried, like Katrina and the BP oil spill:
that’s Southern Company’s Kemper Coal plant, according to a Mississippi
Public Service Commissioner.
Geoff Pender wrote for ClarionLedger.com yesterday,
PSC member slams Miss. Power,
“This is the greatest transfer of wealth from customers to a
monopoly in the history of the state of Mississippi,” [Brandon] Presley
said. “Where are all these so-called conservatives on
that?”
Maybe Mississippi, like Georgia, Continue reading
SO CEO Tom Fanning used Julia O’Neal’s question about cost overruns
to tout the alleged benefits of Kemper Coal,
which include selling CO2 to oil companies to pump into the ground to
produce more oil.
He didn’t mention that oil is then burned to produce more CO2.
And that Mississippi lignite coal he said would otherwise stay in the ground?
Yes it and its CO2 would stay there if SO would get on with solar instead of coal.
Before her question, he had not said much about that project, mostly this about Major Projects, at
29 minutes and 28 seconds in
SO’s own video
of
the 22 May 2013 Southern Company Stockholder meeting.
You’ll have to skip there manually, because of the SO’s video format.
SO prohibited “unauthorized” videoing,
so we don’t have the usual LAKE video on YouTube.
I always call out Vogtle and Kemper County.
Both projects are going to serve our customers for decades to come.
We’ve had some challenges with Kemper.
We’ll probably talk about those later.
But when I think about the value that these projects will bring,
I think our customers, and the economy of the southeast,
will be benefited for decades.
And we’re very excited about the progress we’re making on both of those.
It’s curious he mentioned SO’s flagship coal and nuclear projects
without saying coal or nuclear.
And if by “progress” he means Continue reading
The VDT should dig deeper into the finances of Lowndes County trash collection.
Nobody has ever seen an accounting of where where the money went for
the county’s former waste collection sites, so nobody knows whether
the county was really losing money or how much, and the county’s
version of how those sites had to be paid for doesn’t match state law..
Sure, Bill Slaughter defending a decision made when Ashley Paulk was chair
is amusing, but instead of transcribing what county officials tell it,
the VDT could find lots more under the county’s garbage with a little digging.
Jason Schaefer write for the VDT Thursday,
Concerns continue over garbage agreement:
Business owner argues case against County
The County is not required under Georgia law to issue RFPs to any
company for waste disposal services, according to Slaughter. That
decision was made in a good-faith effort to find the lowest possible
rate for garbage service for the citizens of Lowndes County, he said
Tuesday.
Is that the point of county government, to act like Wal-Mart?
Is money the only value the county government can name?
Everyone I talked to about the trash issue in 2012 who already
had a waste collection card said they’d be willing to pay more
to keep the sites open.
Maybe if the county had held public hearings they would have learned that.
And does anyone believe ADS’s rates are going to stay that low?
Look at
Wakulla, Florida, where it’s $196/year.
But the bigger question is why did the county privatize trash collection
anyway?
Standard & Poor’s lowered Southern Company’s rating from stable to negative
because of the risks of Kemper Coal in Mississippi, and SO’s stock price plummetted.
This was immediately after
activists grilled SO on that and other topics
at the
SO stockholder meeting.
Wait ’till S&P catches on to the risks of SO’s
19-months-late and $1 billion-over-budget nukes at Plant Vogtle in Georgia!
Or SO’s non-action so far on
the challenge of distributed solar.
Kristin Jones wrote for WSJ 24 May 2013,
S&P Lowers Outlook on Southern Co., Noting Project Risks,
